Jury in Brett Parker Bookmaking Trial Selected: Bookie Already Serving Life Sentence

A jury has been selected in the Brett Parker federal gambling trial.  Parker is an admitted South Carolina bookie who was convicted in May on two counts of murder.

The Irmo-based bookie shot and killed his wife, Tammy Jo Parker, and a male employee, Bryan Capnerhurst.

During his trial, Parker tried to pin blame for the shootings on Capnerhurst, claiming that the betting clerk was trying to rob the couple of their gambling income.

Brett Parker, Jack Parker and Douglas E. Taylor will now be tried for allegedly running the illegal bookmaking operation said to have amassed up to $2000 gross per day.

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Prosecutors have also attempted to get Paker’s deceased wife, Tammy Jo, named as a defendant, citing her alleged accounting role in the ring.  

Up until this point U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie has been reluctant to include Tammy Jo among the defendants, dismissing her handwritten budgeting notes as evidence.

The judge pointed out that Mary Jo performed in a rock band.

“Wasn’t she a performer?” Currie asked. “Wouldn’t she be receiving income from booking her performances? I just don’t know who could be here to explain it.”

The Brett Parker case was recently featured on NBC’s “Dateline” with a segment also planned for CBS’ “48 Hours Mysteries”.

- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com